Perhaps the biggest news for the club coming out of the break is the shuffle of healthy comebacks and newly wounded (mostly the latter.) Cacau couldn’t have picked a better time to make his anticipated return given the injury blow to Schieber on international duty. Osorio, Tasci, and Khedira will similarly be unavailable. All these injuries couldn’t have come at a more crucial junction in the season. After this weekend’s match Stuttgart will clash in a huge matchup with Rangers away to effectively determine their Champions League fate.

Berlin have struggled to put the ball in the back of the net all year and I anticipate their struggles to continue on the road to a desperate Stuttgart side. Couple that with the suspensions of Raffael and Sascha Burchert Berlin will only have one true striker available: Artur Wichniarek. Stuttgart are banged up on their back line but should be able to hold Berlin down. I anticipate a close game but ultimately Stuttgart coming out on top, either 1-0 or 2-0. A 0-0 draw would, well, suck.

After a spiritless 0-0 draw away to M’gladbach Stuttgart will have some time to recover from injuries and fatigue. The spotlight of glaring deficiencies seems to have shifted a bit from defensive lapses and now shines brightly on the current goal scoring drought. They’ve scored a whopping ONE goal in their last five Bundesliga matches (2 draws, 3 losses) and haven’t won since September 26th against Eintracht Frankfurt. Babbel will be away in Cologne this week working on getting his coaching license; hopefully the training session this week will involve getting your strikers to put the ball in the back of the net.

In international news several of Stuttgart’s young guns will be called away for international duty, including Sven Ulrich, Julian Schieber, and Sebastian Rudy for the Under-21 squad. Pogrebnyak will be the only real game of serious interest as Russia battle for a WC spot in the playoff against Slovenia in Moscow. Boka, Marica, Kuzmanovic, and Boulahrouz will all be playing for their respective countries in friendlies as well. Stay healthy men!

As for the rest of Stuttgart’s walking wounded, this is a welcome reprieve to recuperate.

This was clearly an instance of Bayern weathering the storm for the first portion of the game and then try and impose their will and score. Though Stuttgart weren’t able to score early on I was overall very happy with the way the back four stepped up on defense. It was a competent and uplifting performance. Usually there’s at least 2 or 3 moments each game where there’s an uncleared cross or something along those lines but everyone stood their ground and there wasn’t ever any real cause for concern for most of the match. Müller was pretty much neutralized all match. Gomez had a chance here and there but I never felt like he was dominating at any point.



This wasn’t one of those re-energizing games by any stretch of the imagination but it was certainly encouraging in that they held their own against a top club and hopefully began to right the ship.

Look for a CL preview either later today or tomorrow-

Am I being naive in still dreaming of European qualification for next year? Perhaps. And maybe I sound like a broken Horst Heldt record here but I believe in this team and by and large the players available to win and make a run at it. While the higher ups continue to preach that Babbel’s job is safe everyone and their mother knows that just isn’t the case; it can’t be. With that in mind I see a spirited effort this weekend not only to right the ship in the domestic table but they’re also fighting for Babbel’s job. Yep, it’s pretty much against logic. Bayern have looked sharper as of late, smoking Eintracht Frankfurt during the week 4-0 in DFB-Pokal competition and also having won their last 2 in the Bundesliga. Stats be damned.

Anyways as always leave your comments here before, during, and after the match. Also, peep the Bayern Offside for a live blog; I’ll be jumping on there too.

Up Stuttgart-

That being said, last night was yet another example of two of Stuttgart’s most glaring deficiencies all year: defensive lapses and lack of finishing. Credit Sevilla for taking advantage of what few chances they had. Boulahrouz was straight up beaten on that first goal, plain and simple, and there’s no good excuse for it. The second goal, the real back breaker, was a horrible combination of goalie blunder and shoddy clearance. I felt up until this point there was a real chance of not only leveling but still being able to snatch all 3 points given the way Stuttgart were playing. And perhaps a bit of the wind was taken out of their sails at that point, and things got a little sloppy. The set piece third goal is evidence of this and put the final nail in the coffin, if there was any doubt.



So many great chances were set up throughout the match it’s hard to figure out where to begin, but the moral of the story is they weren’t taken full advantage of. I can’t even remember when it was, but Schieber had a golden opportunity after Cacau (?) sent him through. One touch too many later, and a left footed shot into a defender rather than a right footed shot on net, another opportunity was squandered. That being said, keep playing the kid, he looks promising. This is the kind of game Gomez would’ve had 2 goals and we probably would’ve come out with all 3 points. Speculation of course, but one can dream can’t he?

At any rate, there are a ton of positives to come out with from this game. If they play like that this weekend there’s no doubt they’ll come back with 3 points away vs Hannover. And it was touched upon in the comments section of the rant box, but Unirea’s sound beating of Rangers makes the group a bit more interesting. I’d like to think Rangers play a bit better next time (EDIT), away, and hopefully beat Unirea giving both teams 4 points. A draw at Sevilla gives us 3; worst case we still are stuck on 2 going into the final two games vs Rangers away and Unirea at home. Those last two matches become must win. Let’s say we win them (seriously.) 12 pts for Sevilla, 8 for us. At this point in time Sevilla will be through and, as most teams do when there’s nothing on the line, will draw back a little. It’ll come down to if Unirea or more likely Rangers can poach points off of Sevilla. So yes, it’s speculation, but for the most part our destiny is still in our own hands. You know, assuming we beat both Rangers and Unirea, which as has been shown isn’t a guarantee.

Last little note on the match. Élson’s goal was naaaasty. If this was a Lampard or Ronaldo or someone else beating the wall and putting it in the top left corner of the net from 30 yards out, it’d be a Sportscenter top 10 nominee and whatever other highlight reels for the week. Enjoy the clip of it below.

That’s it. I’d love to hear comments/feedback or whatever else anybody has to say on the match.

It seems Babbel’s grand shuffle of the starting XI wasn’t the right concoction this time around either. Six changes were made from the side that bowed out humbly to Werder 2-0 before international break. While it was nice to see Hleb and Ludo back and healthy it was hardly a consolation prize. Seeing as hardly anyone has been playing well as of late it’s hard to criticize Babbel’s changes and shuffle too much, but I will say I would’ve like to see Schieber starting rather than coming on late, especially after seeing him create the only goal of the match for Stuttgart. He’s been the only guy who’s looked consistently decent for any stretch of time and I don’t know why he wasn’t out there. I suppose one could argue the strains of international duty, but it is early in the year and he’s got young, spry legs. Use them!

Schalke’s first goal was deplorable. Blame the rain or whatever you want, but irregardless Celozzi has to put in a better effort in clearing that ball. Weak effort = easy goal for Rakitic. There’s really no point in venting anymore about the defensive lapses that have become a bit too frequent. Give credit to Stuttgart for fighting back and leveling. Could’ve been earlier on in the second half if Kuzmanovic had any sort of touch, but I digress. The 2nd goal by Kuranyi was just a decent through ball by Rafinha to beat the offside trap.

So here we are friends. Certainly a low point for Stuttgart; hopefully the nadir of the season. It would go a LONG way in starting the road to recovery if Stuttgart were able to gain a positive result from this upcoming midweek clash home to Sevilla. One of the hottest teams in the land right now, it would be a HUGE confidence booster and statement to come out victorious. But, we shall save match previews and CL thoughts for another day. Until then, check out the goal highlights from the match below. I have to apologize, it’s the only link I could find. I’d probably mute it.

Cut to a year later. Stuttgart are lower half of the table, struggling both domestically and abroad. Our manager, who missed his last required coach training session, is dangerously close to losing his job. Course organizer, Frank Wormuth:

“We are okay up to the start of November, but if he should be absent again after that, then we will have to think about our options.”

Not sure what he means by “options” but they can’t be good. You can read the article here. Note: It’s in German. It’s basically outlining what you need to graduate. You need to attend a certain percentage of the entire course (around 90%) and a certain percentage of individual subject areas (around 80%.) On top of that is the examination in March.

It sounds like Hleb will be back and available for the match which is a welcome sight for sore eyes. Here’s to hoping Schieber can keep up his form that he’s shown as of late, and maybe we can get a boost from the internationals.

Anyways, as always, rant your comments before, during, and after the match. Up Stuttgart-

There are times when you face an opponent who plain and simple outplays you. I think Pizarro’s early goal took the proverbial wind out of Stuttgart’s sail. That being said, there are some glaring concerns that Stuttgart need to deal with. It’s the same old story every week.

There’s clearly a lack of inspiration on the Stuttgart side, which is sad considering the position we’re in playing at the highest level of European competition in addition to domestic and cup competitions. All top flight players gravitate towards teams that are playing in all major competitions. But Stuttgart seem to lack that competitive edge and drive that was so evident in their run last year. It’s clear that Babbel’s installation last year sparked the team with a wonderful late run that put them in the position they’re in this year. But clearly his motivating tactics have worn thin on the players because they aren’t playing with that same drive from only a year back.

There’s also certainly a problem with the overall makeup of the team. Perhaps the personnel is just not right for the tactics Babbel is trying to employ, at which point you have to ask yourself, do we blame the players for not being able to make the grade, or do we blame the manager for not adjusting his gameplan to the strengths that the present squad has? He’s certainly rotated enough players in and out, trying to find some apparently mystical combination of midfielders and strikers to make the offense click. It just hasn’t been there, at least not yet. As one reader suggested, maybe we’re just lacking that creative central midfielder that more successful teams have. Hleb is out, and his return is apparently unclear. And while I certainly agree that it’d be nice to have that, it’s not like we lost a big presence like that in the midfield last year like Werder lost Diego. We did, however, lose the consistent goal scoring threat that we’ve always been able to rely on, and that’s certainly a part of the problem.

Anyways, I don’t think there’s much more to say at this point that isn’t just more speculation and grumbling. We all know the struggles and unfortunately it’s something that the team just needs to battle through.